darkness
by TornChick
Summary: This is a (JakTorn) story. It's rated PG because of some blood-gore and stuff later on.
1. A day off

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did noooot!" Daxter jumped off the small table, avoiding to get caught by Torn who threw half of himself over it to grab the little ottsel's throat.

"Haha! You missed!" came the squeaking reply from somewhere by the floor. The two of them had been picking at each other for no reason for about half an hour, while Jak was searching through some worn boxes on the floor in a try to find something useful. Torn had offered them whatever they could find to protect themselves from metal heads, just so that he could spend some alone in the underground. Not that he could complain about having these morons staying over for the next few days, since they were always out, busy with the missions he sent them out on. He was still bored out of his mind, maybe he should come with them sometime, only to see how they were doing out there.

"Rat…", Torn muttered dryly under his breath and wrinkled his nose in disgust as Daxter escaped from his hiding place behind the table, to see what Jak was up to.

"Found anything yet? Oh! Can I eat that?!" pleading eyes pierced Jak's as he stood up, sighing.

"Dax …. That's a candle…", the elf snapped at him. While brushing himself off, Torn stepped up to him, sighing and rolling his eyes, shaking his head so that his long ears flapped around.

"What are you guys up to today anyway?" he trailed off, sounding exactly as bored and mean as ever. "I didn't ask you to do anything…" he kept staring into Jak's eyes as if he was a prisoner trying to escape.

The younger one folded his arms.

"What are you saying? Aren't we allowed to go outside despite when you order us to do something?" he asked sarcastically, raising one eyebrow. Torn chuckled.

"I didn't say that…I was just asking.."

"What tattooboy?! We've already heard that talk from aaaall the ladies, if you know what I mean…You want us to be careful.." he went on with sarcasm. A hand was clapped over his big mouth.

"Sorry about that", Jak excused his friend. "What were you saying?" the older elf stared at something in the distant and walked over to the table, showing a troubled expression with mixed feelings.

"You know…never mind", he muttered and picked his knife up to polish it a bit. His eyes were only focused on the weapon in his hands.

"What? What did you say Jak?!" Daxter shouted at the blonde. The young elf gave the ottsel a threatening glance and then turned to Torn.

"Well…I…we're leaving now, anyway…", he started approaching to the door, with a last look at the other man. "Take care", he smiled before disappearing outside. Torn smiled, still watching the knife reflect the light coming from the ceiling.

He didn't notice a dark shadow pass by the small window beside him. The darkness outside started to fall even more. He placed the weapon on the table and closed his eyes in relax, not seeing the dark falling over his calm face.

* * *

Just a start, but I hope you like it, more is coming up soon please R&R 


	2. Shadows

thanks for the reviews so far. here's the next chapter. (yaoi warning later on-not in this chapter though)

"So…", Jak started, grinning at his little friend. "What should we do? Any suggestions?" he jumped into the hellcat parked around the corner of the underground hideout.

"Oh. oh! Let's go see Tess!" Daxter shouted excited, wagging his tail where he sat on Jak's shoulder.

"I knew it!" the elf laughed as he started to take off. "How does the headlights work? It's dark as hell out here…" while he pushed every possible buttons, the ottsel turned around, looking back into the dark alley. His little furry body stiffened as he listened for, what was that? A groaning sound?

"Ehh…Jak…Did you hear that?" he patted the other one's shoulder nervously.

"What?" the young elf looked up at Daxter, forgetting about the headlights. His friend's eyes were fixed on something in the dark. "Dax, what's wrong? A worried noise escaped the ottsel's mouth.

"Didn't you hear...", he was interrupted by a scream and fell of Jak's shoulder from the shock. When he was about to hide behind the hellcat, Jak ran off towards the underground hideout.

"Torn?!" he yelled into the dark while running. What if something had happened. Why did he care anyway? He could hear the running of paws behind, but didn't stop until he reached the door. Pushing it up, he stumbled in with Daxter behind. A cold wind came from the window in the corner and an unpleasant smell reached his nose.

"Yak! What is that smell!?" the ottsel held one hand over his nose, looking around the room to try and find some kind of clue. "Hey, where's the tattoo w…"

"Torn!" without noticing, his friend had found the older elf lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. The knife was put on the table, no traces of blood there. As he shook the other man's shoulders he got no response, but by checking his pulse, he could tell he was still alive.

"Whoo! I told you this guy was crazy Jak, first he sends us out to get killed, then he tries killing himself…!" he received an angry look from the elf and decided to shut his mouth.

"It's no bullet…", the blonde muttered quietly while examining the wound in Torn's chest. "It looks like…."

"…a claw?" Daxter's eyes widened as he watched the lifeless form on the floor, blood pouring over it.

"Dax, go and get Tess….", the little ottsel swallowed loudly as his eyes met two very serious ones. "Hurry!" the blonde showed the animal away towards the door.

"But…"

"No buts", he was almost thrown out of the room and into the dark outside. Jak wiped his forehead and was about to turn around, to head back to Torn when Daxter spoke.

"…He's not going to die…is he?" his eyes only showed curiosity and Jak sighed, walking down the stairs with heavy steps.

A few minutes later, Jak had succeeded to drag the unconscious elf up onto one of the beds. He waited impatiently for Tess to arrive, she knew a lot about first aid and stuff. Until then, he only needed to stop the bleeding.

"Damn…", he swore to himself, trying to wrap a bloodsoaked rag over the wound.

He started to panic as more blood smeared his hands and besides, he thought Daxter and Tess should've been back already. He glanced around the room, feeling his heart beating faster, feeling…a cold hand around his arm.

"Huh?" he questioned dumbfounded as he turned around. "Torn…are you okay?" thinking it was a stupid question, since the other elf was mortally wounded, he used his left hand to wipe some blood away from the other one's mouth. Torn tried to speak, but the pain stopped him and only caused him to cough blood.

"Schh..don't speak", Jak told him with a rather calm voice. In the silence, he could hear Torn's heart beating and his breathing becoming more strained. The older man closed his eyes slowly, a sigh escaping his lips. Jak felt so sorry for him, just recently, he'd been his usual mean self. And now he was just lying here, helpless. The blonde reached a hand out but quickly pulled back when he realized what he'd almost done.

Sighing, he sat there, waiting for help. He glanced around the room once more to notice that the knife was gone. His heart jumped as he raised, checking the table. No, it wasn't there. Suddenly, something that send a chill down his spine, made him turn around, one of the corners were suspiciously dark and as it for some reason moved, he could discern the knife reflecting the light coming from above.


	3. problem nr 1

Thanks for all the reviews (dances) took me a while to come up with this chapter, since I didn't know myself how things would turn out…oh well.

Torn: I wanna kick some shadow asses!

Daxter: Shut up, you're not awake!

Torn: You shut up, you're not even here!

Jak: 'Slaps them both' get on with the story already!

(((Chapter 3)))

"Give him to me…", a hissing voice came form the corner, and a low shuffling sound could be heard as well. Jak didn't really know what to say, the air had just spoken to him, how to react, how to react? He approached the dark corner slowly, to not make any too rushed movements.

"What are you talking about?" the blonde questioned in a voice he himself thought sounded quite tough. Once again, the blade of the knife was reflected in the light and made Jak's poor heart starting to beat in that uncomfortable way again.

"Giiive him to mee…" the voice wheezed from the corner, eyeing the elf carefully. 'Stupid boy', it probably thought. Just when Jak feared he was about to get his guts ripped out, the door upstairs burst open and footsteps came closer. Since the blonde had turned around to see how was coming, he didn't notice the knife until it fell to the floor with a ringing sound of metal. The shadow was gone and the corner was as light as snow again.

"Jak? Torn?" it was Tess. As she came in sight of Jak, he could see Daxter climbing around on her thin shoulders. "Is he alright?" he had currently forgot about Torn, all of his attention had been directed to that strange creature. What could it have meant with 'give him to me'. Did he mean Torn?

"Jak?! Earth calling Jak!" Daxter shouted and dragged him out of his thoughts.

"What?!Who?!Where?!Why?!" Jak yelled and the little ottsel covered his ears. He soon realized where he was and turned to Tess who was examining Torn. Sitting down slowly by the bed, he watched the girl taking care of the wound.

"Is he…", the words gathered in Jak's throat, as if refusing to jump out. "Is he going to be okay?" as he leaned closer when Tess muttered something, he could really see how pale and cold the older elf's skin was.

"Yes…It's not really that serious, he's just lost much blood…..", she then muttered something the two others couldn't hear. "I knew he was stressed and worried about his responsibility of the underground force, but I never thought he would try and take his life…" the sound of her voice became lower and lower as she spoke.

"What?!" Jak yelled into her face as she turned around.

"Daxter said..." the blonde girl started.

"Dax", his friend sighed loudly, smacking his forehead. "He wasn't trying to hurt himself. That monster…it was here…" Tess wrinkled her nose in worry and stared at the other elf a few seconds before speaking.

"What was here? A monster..", the way she had said it sounded so hesitating that Jak grew angry.

"That thing hurt Torn! Why won't you believe me?" he asked them both and raised to walk over to the knife. He picked it up nervously, like if it would come to life. "It looked like some kind of shadow…it demanded me to give Torn to him…" when he saw his two friends glancing at him from the other side of the room, like if he'd lost it, he went back to study the weapon closer.

"….", Tess opened her mouth to speak when suddenly, Torn sat up panting and looking around as if something had been chasing him. The three glared back at him, expecting him to speak but nothing came.

"Torn?" the girl gently touched his arm, but he looked like he was caught in some kind of trance or something. He just stared right into the air, breathing heavily, as if he didn't notice the others were there.

"Hey! Watch this!" Daxter jumped up at Tess' shoulder, sticking his tongue out. He kept doing ugly faces at Torn, but got no reaction. "How boring…" he sighed.

"Daxter…this isn't funny", Jak told the little ottsel and sat down next to him. They all jumped as the dark haired elf started shaking his head as if to get rid of something. He then quit and opened his mouth slowly. The three friends kept staring (the way people probably looks like when they're watching a scary movie and are waiting for something exciting to happen. Well, use your imagination)

"…Jak…", a hand shot out, gripping the blonde by his collar. "I can't see…"

Well, it sure will be interesting to see how Torn handles this, especially when on a dangerous mission.


	4. problem nr 2 Erol

Tess gasped, holding her hands over her wide open mouth. The hand around Jak's collar loosened a bit.

"What do you mean…you can't see?" the blondeelf tried hesitating and swallowed. Torn's face changed into a frustrated expression and tightened the grip.

"I can't see damnit! What part didn't you understand?!" he closed his eyes as he felt himself shaking and Tess' heavy breathing didn't help at all. For once, Daxter was absolutely quiet.

"Wait…", the blonde girl started. "I know something that could help…", she glared nervously at the others before continuing. "Yesterday when I was working for Krew, I was sorting different kinds of bottles… I read the note on one of them, it was something about blindness…something that could make you get the sight back…" this time she turned to Torn, who looked like if it was the end of the world. "If we could just get that bloodsucking freak to give us the recipe.."

"But didn't you say you saw one of those bottles?" the ottsel folded his tiny arms, glaring up at the girl.

"It was empty…" Tess sighed. No one spoke for a while as all three of them were staring at the blind elf. It was then Jak came to a decision.

"Daxter and I'll go and get the serum…", not really sure why he would like to do such a thing, he scratched the back of his head and stood up. Tess nodded silently and watched as her two friends were about to leave.

"See you soon sugarplum", Daxter winked at her in his charming, yet annoying way. She giggled at the little animal.

"Jak!" Torn reached his arms out as if trying to catch something. "I'm coming with you…" why the hell did he say that for? He could just lie here, being taken care of by Tess and well, wait for that serum they had recently discussed.

"This should be fun…", Daxter grinned as they approached the bed. Jak sat down beside the dark haired elf, placing his right hand on the other man's shoulder.

"I…I don't think that would be such a good idea", he said calmly, but before anyone of them could do anything else, Torn pushed him away and got up, swinging a bit where he stood. He grabbed the wall to get better balance.

"You should stay here Torn….It's the best thing to do…", Jak's voice sounded so calm and gentle, he couldn't help but listen to it. But he needed to go, it would be a nightmare to just lie here, staring…or….no, not even staring at the ceiling above, and what if that thing came back. No, he needed to go with Jak, whatever happened.

"You can't stop me", he breathed heavily, feeling the others staring at him. "Let's just go…" at first he didn't think they would let him, but then he felt the blonde's strong arm around his own and a more gentle one on his left side.

"Ok, Dax, go and get the hell cat outside…", he could hear it was Tess who'd said that, and both of them started helping him forward and outside.

"Anything for you Tess baby!" the little ottsel's steps echoed in the hall as he ran outside to start the zoomer.

**15 min. later outside the Hip Hog Saloon**

Tess had parked their vehicle by the entrance and was now to get around it to help Jak getting Torn out without any accidents. This time, Daxter jumped up onto her shoulder, grinning at the sight of the other two elves.

"Ok…a little bit closer, just one more step…", the blonde elf was giving orders to the other one, where to step and to NOT step. "Wait, stop…no" a loud thud and a crashing sound followed as Torn stumbled and fell down right onto Jak.

"Are you guys okay?!" Tess' terrified voice called over Daxter's laugh. The little ottsel fell off her shoulder, laughing so hard he couldn't get himself up from the ground. Jak lay there, not knowing what to do or what to say…Torn seemed just as shocked as him, and crawled away in a try to stand up. The girl gave him a hand to stand.

"I…I'm okay…", the blonde could hear his stuttering voice and as he looked at his hands, they were shaking. "Let's just get inside…okay? And Dax, stop laughing!" grabbing the ottsel by his throat, all of them approached the door to the saloon.

Well, where the hell was Krew? As they looked around they caught sight of Sig. The tall elf was sitting at one of the tables, polishing his peacemaker. To Jak's fear, Erol was sitting at the table next to him, fixing his hair in the most feminine way. He, Tess and Daxter swallowed, trying to get rid of the unpleasant sight.

"Hello there cherries!" the man greeted them, putting the weapon down currently. "What brings you here?" no one of the four got a chance to answer as he started speaking again. "If you're looking for Krew, he's out now…won't be back in a time though", he smiled at them, not wanting to be impolite by asking why they were holding Torn like if he was a bag of hay, ready to collapse any second.

"Hey there Sig!" Daxter shouted, taking the liberty to walk into the room. "And question number two! How did that elephant get through that little door?" he gestured towards the entrance. The elf just laughed and Erol snorted where he sat, watching them talk. Jak started to think this wouldn't get them anywhere so he spoke, not gladly in front of Erol, but oh well…

"Well, ah… the reason why we came here…uhm…", he looked at Tess for support.

"The reason is that I can't see! Now where's the recipe…?" Torn questioned angrily, clenching his fists.

"You must be Torn…I've heard about you, you work for the underground right?" Sig asked, picking his peacemaker up to go on with the polishing, while doing so, Daxter stole the drink beside him and hid under the table.

"What if I am?" Torn snarled aggressively, not really sure where the person he was talking to was.

"He sure is…", Erol chuckled from the corner, getting up to approach the three. Tess started to back away, but Jak walked up to the older elf.

"Mind your own business Erol!" he told the other one, feeling the anger build up inside him. the redhead chuckled again.

"Jak…Jak…Jak….I'm not after you….you've got nothing to worry about", with that said, he walked pass the blonde, bumping his arm on the way. "So…Torn…how is it like, being helpless…oh, what a stupid question…", he laughed. "You're always helpless, you're worthless, you and your silly underground force won't be able to stop the Baron, how could you ever think such a thing?" he kept laughing.

"YOU!" Tess had to hold the dark haired elf back as he tried to hit the red haired one.

"Leave him alone!" Jak got between the two, feeling hurt and angry about what Erol had just said.

"Oh…or else what?" he chuckled again, then his face changed to a serious one. "I can kill you just like this if I want to…", he snapped his fingers in the blonde's face. "It would be even easier to kill that worthless.." he wasn't able to say anymore before he received a blow in the face. Jak leaned over the other elf who now sat on the floor, grabbing his bleeding nose.

"You leave him alone, did you hear me?" he could feel the dark eco running in his blood, he was about to give Erol another strike when the peacemaker was put between them.

"That's enough Jak", Sig told him with a calm voice, as if this happened all the time. "And Erol, just mind your own business, will you?"

"Yes mother…", the redhead spitted and got up from the floor. Jak and Tess watched as their enemy got seated again.

"Look…I think I know what you're looking for and I will help you find the recipe and the serum…if you just get out of here", the tall man said, glancing back at Erol. "He already knows too much, we shouldn't talk about this while he's nearby…okay?" Jak nodded, so did Tess.

"Dax?!" the blonde called, they all heard a slurping sound from under one of the tables and a drunk little ottsel came out from behind the tablecloth swinging while approaching to them. Tess giggled.

"Man…that was the way best drink I've had in a looooong time", he then burped and fell to the floor. The other four rolled their eyes.

* * *

sorry if the chapter was too long, but I had to get all of this into one chapter, I had so much ideas of how to write, so… what waits next is how they're going to find the serum, will it be easy with that thing running around and having Erol sneaking up on them all the time, read next chapter to find out. 


	5. the serum

It was still dark outside and not many people were around. Jak, Daxter, Torn, Tess and Sig arrived to Haven Forest about 2.06 am the same night. They had almost sneaked out there, avoiding to be seen by any crimson guards, or worse Erol. The reason why they went there was to find the special and very rare blood of a small animal called Tjiev. To create the serum, one needed to mix the blood from the victim with a bit from the Tjiev, the thing was just to find it.

"Well, this seems like a nice place!" Sig, as spirited and happy as always, exclaimed to the others. He was pointed the peacemaker towards a cave looking place, where tall green grass was growing over the rocks around. Somewhere in the background, the sound of water could be heard in the dark.

"It's perfect…", Tess sighed as she and Jak was practically dragging Torn along and had been doing so through the whole forest. No one wanted to say it was a bad place their friend had found, since he'd been running around several minutes to find the best place where they could rest and where he could watch for metal heads. Nothing can stop Sig when it comes to beating some monsters up.

The grass was a bit cold and wet, but it could be worse, it could be raining…."rain starts to fall from the sky"…ops. Well, it could be worse, it could be…oh, I shouldn't make it harder on them.

The two blondes helped Torn to sit down, leaned against one of the cold hard rocks behind, Tess then put the sleeping little ottsel in the grass next to her as she sat.

"Is it okay with you Torn?" Jak asked this gently and sat down himself, trying to make it as comfortable as possible next to the older elf. The reply was just a simple snort, but the blonde could've swore that he heard something else, but then the rain was probably making him hear things.

"Goodnight everyone", it was too dark discern Tess, but her voice sounded anything else but glad and Jak could hear her shudder on the ground. He couldn't really say he was tired himself, he should be, but he had other things that concerned him for some odd reason. Looking over to Torn, he noticed the other elf wasn't so fond of sleeping right now either. He had buried his face in his knees, breathing loudly from the cold.

An orchestra of snoring soon filled the little cave, Jak thought he could likely to look for metal heads, if there were any around, someone had to be awake…his heart jumped suddenly as two yellow spots appeared a distance away from the group. His heart jumped again when he realized he recognized them….that thing. The eyes disappeared and the blonde kept staring around him, to be on his guard in the dark.

"Jak…..", turning around, he saw Torn turning to him slowly, even in the darkness he could see his eyes were closed, but still his face seemed to express so many different kinds of feelings. The younger elf positioned himself in front of the older one before answering.

"Yes….?" Torn turned his face to Jak when he heard his voice from the other side. "Why did you defend me against Erol?" he had questioned this as simple as if they were talking about whether or not they should have yakow sandwiches for dinner. Jak was speechless, twisting nervously, avoiding to look at the other man.

Why had he done such a thing anyway, he could ask himself, but he didn't know the answer either.

"Torn….I….", he couldn't get the words out, and the silence around them made him feel even worse as if the whole forest was listening. Without thinking, he leaned forward and kissed Torn's lips quickly before pulling away shocked about his action. His heart started pounding inside his chest, like if it wanted to jump out and run away into the forest in shame to never return.

A smile has formed on to dark haired elf's mouth.

"I wish I could see you…", he sighed with a low voice, a bit of sadness in the tone of it. Jak brought a hand up and caressed Torn's cold cheek.

**A distance away**

"Soo… I want the two of you to go and find that ugly little animal, while Joo and I'll go and get Torn…" two crimson guards nodded and left their hiding place. The binoculars Erol held in his gloved hands, were currently directed towards the group in the cave. "That serum sounds interesting", he wheezed maliciously.  
He'd been following them all the way here with three other crimson guards, and had also overheard the recipe Sig had told everyone about. Just imagine what kind of things you could do with it, especially if you're evil.

* * *

Jak was just to kiss Torn again when a terrified noise from behind made him turn around. A crimson guard was staring at them, he had recently used his gun to knock Tess, Sig and Daxter out, and was now pointing his weapon at Jak's face. If it wasn't for that stupid helmet, the blonde was sure he'd been greeted with a sneer.

A creepy laugh was heard and followed by a gasp from Torn, Jak turned around slowly without risking that guard pulling the trigger. Erol was standing there with that annoying grin glued to his lips. He had wrapped one arm around Torn's neck and the poor elf struggled for air.

"Let him go!" Jak growled, staring at Erol with pure hate. The crimson guard behind moved a little closer as to warn to him not to make any rushed movements.

"Hahaha, you know Jak, you should really be more careful about what secrets you tell people, especially when I'm near", he grinned at the blonde while searching through his right pocket for something. "That serum sounded….let's say, interesting, so, I'm just going to borrow your boyfriend here…" as he said that, Jak snorted, not able to do anything else with the gun pointed at the back of his head. Fear shot through his body as Erol brought a needle out of the pocket, it looked like some sort of mechanism used to take blood samples, but it was far thicker and sharper.

"No! Don't…", the blonde almost pleaded, part of him hoped for Erol to have mercy, but part of him knew what kind of scum he was. He felt the metal from the gun pressing against the cold skin of his neck.

"You better calm down, or maybe I'll have thehonor to blow your head off", the elf behind chuckled evilly. And the redhead put his fake and sarcastic smile on.

"Don't worry Jak…it's just a blood sample….", he sneered and then looked at his partner with the weapon. "It's quick, easy... and painful", both guards started laughing. Jak could only watched as Torn struggled, twisted and did everything to get away from Erol's grip, without success.

A terrifying scream escaped the dark haired elf as the needle was injected into his shoulder, the blonde had no time to react himself before a loud thud came from behind and the peacemaker was put really near the redhead's face. The guard behind Jak fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Drop that thing",Sig's voice showed disgust as he gestured towards the needle with his left hand. Erol growled, his face turning red of anger as he carelessly ripped the metallic thing out and dropped Torn. Actually, he didn't really dare to turn around and run, one reason was that he knew Sig would probably be faster than him…AND stronger, besides he had the peacemaker stuck up his face. To be honest, he was a bit afraid of the tall elf and his clumsy weapon, but who wouldn't be?

"Torn!" Jak rushed over to the other elf, pulling him up gently into his arms. "Are you okay?" he could hear his voice shaking a bit but he didn't care, he could feel Sig and Erol watching them. The dark haired elf only grunted lowly and stirred in his arms. No one noticed a dark shadow sneaking up on them.

* * *

Finally I managed to get this chapter update, it was a bit hard to come up with something this time, I guess I just haven't enough will to just write this time, anyway, thanks for all the reviews so far, it's closing in at the end now. 


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